Temporary Agency Work and Well-Being-The Mediating Role of Job Insecurity.

Organisations use non-standard employment as a means of flexibility and reduction of fixed costs. An increasingly growing group of employees are self-employed, have work contracts such as part-time and temporary contracts or are employed by a temporary agency, a development catalysed by the COVID pandemic. Whereas there is some evidence that temporary work might affect health via job insecurity (JI) there are hardly any studies focussing on the effects and mechanisms of temporary agency work (TAW). This study sheds light on TAW's potential health impact and the role of JI in this respect using a mediation analysis. Based on the BIBB/BAuA-Employment Survey 2018 (N = 20.021, representative of the German working population), we analysed the direct effect of TAW on cognitive and psychosomatic aspects of well-being. In particular, we considered JI as mediator for this association. In line with the potentially detrimental effects of temporary employment on well-being, we found that TAW was related to unfavourable outcomes in terms of job satisfaction, general health status and musculoskeletal complaints. JI partially mediated all three underlying associations. Organisations need to be flexible and adaptable. However, by using temporary agency employment as a means to achieve this flexibility, managers and leaders should be aware that it is related to unfavourable well-being and hence hidden costs. In using this type of employment, both the temporary work agency and the user company should consider these health risks by providing health care, options for increasing the temporary agency workers (TA), workers employability, and equal treatment between permanent and TA workers at the actual workplace.

Trabalho digno, satisfação com o trabalho e com a vida em administradores / Decent work, and satisfaction with work and life in managers / Trabajo decente, satisfacción con el trabajo y con la vida en administradores

O presente estudo objetivou avaliar interações entre a percepção do trabalho digno (TD) e a satisfação com o trabalho e com a vida, em uma amostra de administradores brasileiros (N = 292). Para isto, foram aplicados três instrumentos: o Questionário de Trabalho Digno, o Questionário de Satisfação com o Trabalho e a Escala de Satisfação com a Vida. Os resultados encontrados foram três correlações canônicas interpretáveis: a primeira mostra a associação de todas as dimensões do TD com todas as dimensões da satisfação com o trabalho e com a vida; a segunda, evidencia a interação entre a remuneração significativa para o exercício da cidadania e a satisfação com a vida; e a terceira, destaca a associação entre a saúde e segurança com a satisfação com o ambiente físico do trabalho. Os resultados sugerem a relevância do TD na promoção da satisfação com o trabalho e com a vida.

The present study aimed to explore interactions between decent work (DW) perception and satisfaction with work and life, in a sample of Brazilian managers (N = 292). For this, three instruments were applied: The Decent Work Questionnaire, the Work Satisfaction questionnaire and the Satisfaction With Life Scale. The results found were three interpretable canonical correlations: the first shows the association of all DW dimensions with all dimensions of satisfaction with work and life; the second shows the interaction between meaningful remuneration for the exercise of citizenship and satisfaction with life; and the third, highlights the association between health and safety with satisfaction with the physical work environment. The results suggest the relevance of DW in promoting satisfaction with work and life.

El presente estudio tuvo como objetivo evaluar las interacciones entre la percepción del trabajo decente (TD) y la satisfacción con el trabajo y con la vida, en una muestra de administradores brasileños (N = 292). Para eso, se aplicaron tres instrumentos: el Cuestionario de Trabajo Decente, el Cuestionario de Satisfacción Laboral y la Escala de Satisfacción con la Vida. Los resultados encontrados fueron tres correlaciones canónicas interpretables: la primera presenta la asociación de todas las dimensiones del TD con todas las dimensiones de satisfacción con el trabajo y con la vida; la segunda muestra la interacción entre la remuneración significativa para el ejercicio de la ciudadanía y la satisfacción con la vida; y la tercera, destaca la asociación entre salud y seguridad con la satisfacción con el ambiente físico de trabajo. Los resultados sugieren la importancia del TD en la promoción de la satisfacción con el trabajo y la vida.

Well-Being in Life and Well-Being at Work: Which Comes First? Evidence From a Longitudinal Study.

Understanding reciprocal relationships between specific arenas in life and at work is critical for designing interventions to improve workplace health and safety. Most studies about the links between dimensions of well-being in life and at work have been cross-sectional and usually narrowly focused on one of the dimensions of the work-life well-being link. The issues of causality and feedback between life and work well-being have often not been addressed. We overcome these issues by measuring six aspects of well-being for both the work arena and life in general, using longitudinal data with a clear temporal sequence of cause and effect, and by explicitly accounting for feedback with potential effects in both directions. Nine hundred and fifty-four Mexican apparel factory workers at a major global brand participated in two waves of the Worker Well-Being Survey. Data on life satisfaction and job satisfaction, happiness and positive affect, meaning and purpose, health, and social relationships in life and at work were used. Lagged regression controlling for confounders and prior outcomes was employed. Sensitivity analysis was used to assess the robustness of the results to potential unmeasured confounding. For the relationships between life satisfaction and job satisfaction and between happiness in life and happiness at work effects in both directions were found. Nevertheless, indication of a larger effect of life satisfaction on job satisfaction than the reverse was obtained. For depression and meaning in life, there was evidence for an effect of life well-being on work-related well-being, but not for the reverse. For social relationships and purpose, there was evidence for an effect of work-related well-being on life well-being, but not the reverse. Relationships based on the longitudinal data were considerably weaker than their respective cross-sectional associations. This study contributes to our understanding of the nature of the relationship between aspects of well-being in the arenas of life and work. Findings from this study may facilitate the development of novel workplace programs promoting working conditions that enable lifelong flourishing in life and at work.